If you saw the story we published yesterday (after we published it the day before), you know Twisted Root is currently selling beaver burgers. The company announced that it had purchased 60 pounds of river rodent to be offered up as burgers for $7.99 each. I dropped in to order one just after they opened this morning.
The kitchen will only cook the meat medium or higher, so my dreams of rare beaver were quickly dashed. Thankfully ground beaver meat retains its moisture when cooked well done. Everything I've read about beaver meat says that it tastes like roast pork when properly cooked. I thought it tasted a lot like beef.
The patty was moist and had a slightly gamey flavor that wasn't nearly as pronounced as other wild meats, like venison. I'm thinking a nice spicy, whole-grain mustard would make a worthy condiment for the burger. (I ate mine plain.)
A manager came to our table and asked what we thought, and then told us a little more about the meat. He said it came in frozen in large pieces he had to debone before grinding and that the process was laborious. Buffalo could be ground and turned into patties in 10 minutes flat. It took him 45 minutes to prep the beaver.
Then he made a boning beaver joke. There were lots of beaver jokes today.
On my way out I stopped by a table with four guys who ordered the beaver burgers, too. One guy had cheese and two long pieces of bacon on his sandwich. "It's not bad," he said. "It actually tastes like beef." Not as exciting as I'd hoped, but quite good.
The burgers will be available only at the Deep Ellum location until they run out of beaver meat.
